This is Where it All Begins
by fnikki34
Summary: It all started off as a little mission, destroy Lord Zuko and Katara will be able to live free again. But one day Katara steps into Zuko's life for one minute and sees that maybe the bad isn't behind one man but behind the family. One little between Katara and Zuko determines her future and maybe change her perspective on love and falling in love with someone she shouldn't love.
1. Chapter 1: Thanks for the Memories

Alone, five simple little words that can take the words out of your breath and make you believe that nothing and nobody is going to be there for you. Alone was the first feeling I felt after my parents died and my older brother Sokka left and get be married to Suki, I mean I'm happy for them don't get me wrong, but it is my older brother and I feel that now he married, he is not going to able to have anymore quality time for me because of Suki. Everyone in the water tribe always asks me, when am I going to be next? When will I be like my older brother and bring home a strong and courageous warrior like Suki? The answer is always the same and that is I don't know, I mean I am twenty years old and at this time the women in the water tribe are bound to get married, but not me. I know deep down in my heart that I am not ready for marriage and I know that I need to find myself and know more about myself, before I commit myself to someone for the rest of my life and change into something that I am not.

Today is the day I change and today is the day when everything in the world changes.

Today is the day I take down the fire nation and the fire lord.

Two days before the big leave.

I remember the look on Sokka's face when I told him that I was going to take down the fire nation, it was look of anger and disgust. "Katara, are you crazy? How you can you take down the entire fire nation? And most of all how can you take down Zuko? You know he is the strongest fire bender in the world, right? I will not allow you to go to the fire nation and get yourself killed."

Him saying that to me, I was not only in shock but also angry and upset. I mean he has seen how far I have come with my water bending, and he knows how hard I worked to be one of the best. Not only do I feel that he is degrading me as a water bender but as his sister as well. I look up into his eyes and feel the tears starting to rise out of my eyes, I feel like screaming because our lives should not be like this, our world should not be full of so much war, and most of all families should not be fighting, but it's getting to that point where war and fighting with family is the only way to get your point across. And war and fighting with family should never be the answer to any problem at all.

"Sokka, I know that you are trying to protect me, but this is what I have been training for all of my life." I scream so loud so that everyone can hear me. "But, don't you remember who killed our family and most of all our tribe? It is was the fire nation. I don't only want to get revenge for mom and dad, but for our entire tribe that has been mistreated for so many decades.

I knew at that very moment I should've just bit my tongue and not say anything at all, because I'm not the only one that has been affected by our parents death, but Sokka was as well. Seeing the look on his face is the worst feeling in the world and seeing that look on his face is making me feel horrible and in pain. I love my brother and never want to hurt him, but when it comes to this, I know what I must do

I take seven steps toward my brother and put my arms around him and feel my brothers tears stain my blue shirt and feel his pain drain away like the dark clouds falling away. I whisper so that only he can hear, "you know that I have to do this, I know you want to protect me, and I love you for that, but you know deep down that I have to do this and I have to do it on my own." I feel Sokka start to shake and cry even more. "I know that you probably want to come with me, but you have to stay here and be here for Suki because if you are not here for her, no one else will." I look up into the sky and see the dark clouds and know that danger will be arising and will arrive in the water tribe soon. "Listen to me, Sokka you are an amazing husband and an amazing brother, but killing Zuko is something that needs to be done by me, and I hope you can understand, I love you big brother and you know that is not going to change."

Sokka starts to let go of me and looks me in the eyes with fierceness in his eyes. "You better kick his ass and make sure that he remembers what he and his family have done to the water tribe." With the tears in his eye and a smile on his face I knew at that point that I had his approval and would be ready to take on the world.

End of flashback

Its been two months and I haven't seen or heard from Sokka or any of the members of the water tribe. So many thoughts and feelings are running throughout my head, what if I don't achieve my mission? What if I fail? So many thoughts and I don't think the space in my head will be able to keep up with all of these cluttering thoughts.

I have finally arrived at the fire nation and one part of me is scared and another part of me is thriving on revenge. Its funny because I never thought this day would come where I would be walking into the fire nation with my head held up high ready to kill with my fire nation clothing covering up the fact that I am a water bender and not a fire bender. Walking through the fire nation land, all I see is women outside sewing to their hearts content and little children running around like they have no care in the world. Those kids are very lucky because they have not had their entire village destroyed and do not have to deal with all the sadness and anger of their parents being killed.

I feel a small tug at the bottom of my shirt and look to see a small child, maybe about seven or eight years old, looking into my eyes like I am their savoir. "Hi miss, sorry to bother you, but you wouldn't have any money or food on you possibly?" I looked down at the young girl and knew that my next move was not the right move at all, but I knew that I had to help.

"Whats your name sweety? Where are your parents?" I asked her.

"My names Lilith and my parents are not around anymore." She said with a sad look on her face.

I only have one piece of bread left and only a couple of coins on me, but I knew that at this moment the child needed it more than I did. I reached into my knapsack and pulled my only piece of salvation and gave it to the young girl. "You need it more than I do and I believe that you will enjoy this piece of bread more than I would."

"Really miss? Thank you so much." She says to me with a huge smile on her face.

I look down to here and pass the bread down to her and walk away with tears running down my face knowing that the little girl might not be able to survive the war once it reaches the fire nation, once I defeat the fire lord, I hope change will forego once one person is destroyed.

Walking for another half an hour I see the same landscape and different children running around and different women sewing to their hearts content, but one thing that was different was there was a huge mansion like building that is standing right in front of her eyes and I knew at that moment I had arrived at the fire lords home front and knew the plan of action would finally begin.

Walking into the building, I am not going to lie I was in shock, everything I see is absolutely beautiful. Beautiful paintings and artwork that can make anyone stop and stare and feel like the world has stopped moving because the beauty of the artwork has captured you and you cannot escape. The furniture was so exquisite that you would never be able to find any of these items in the water tribe. And most of all the artwork that is standing right front of me is one of the most beautiful but horrible paintings I have ever seen, and that is a painting of Zuko himself, his eyes are enticing and forcing me to see the beauty of the painting and not the horrible and disgusting parts of the painting itself. What is going on with me? Why am I seeing the beauty of something that is so disgusting?

"Excuse me, do you have an appointment with Lord Zuko?" A man asks me.

Crap, what do I do now? Think Katara think, and just make something up and everything will be okay, hopefully. Who am I kidding? Knowing my luck this is going to fail, but might as well go along with it.

"Um…..yes I do actually, you see mister, I am an old good friend of Lord Zuko, we go way back to the days where him and I would hang out in the backyard and talk about what life was going to be like when we get older. Do you know what I mean?" I saw murmuring and feeling like the biggest idiot to ever be alive.

"Oh I see, you are the old friend that Lord Zuko keeps talking about, its Joy, isn't?" He asks me with a mysterious wonder on his face.

"Yup, that's me, Joy."

"Well, follow me then, young madam"

Out of all the thoughts and lies I could have come up with in the world, I had to say I was old friend. You know what? Whatever, this is will work because it will get me one step closer to saving the world and destroying the so called, Lord Zuko.

As the solider shows me around, I start to wonder what to say to Zuko and how to act, of course I cannot act irrational, and walk in there and say, "hey you, you burned down my village and know I am going to burn you." I need to walk in there and have a plan, and I know the perfect plan that even Lord Zuko would never think would occur.

"Lord Zuko, Miss Joy has arrived." The solider says to the Lord standing five feet away.

Zuko turns around and looks at me and takes me all in and stares into my blue ocean eyes. His arms are crossed and a smirk lies across his face, and acts like he is the ruler of the world.

"Lazard, you may go now, thank you for your service and bringing Joy here to me."

Lazard does a small bow and leaves the asshole and me alone. This is going to be the most awkward and interesting conversation I have probably had in a very long time. Zuko starts to walk towards me and I feel that trouble is going to be ensured. Zuko look me into my eyes, and once again his eyes are sucking me into the beauty and not making me look at the disgust. Zuko opens his mouth and quickly shuts it and I have so many thoughts, what is he going to say? Does he know that I am not actually this girl called Joy?

"Joy, it has been such a long time." He speaks with a smirk on his face. "How long has it been? Five, ten years, if I am correct."

"Um….I believe it's been seven years." I say, so that he can only hear"

Zuko looks at me and once again and starts to laugh. "Do you really think that I would fall for your little trick? The real Joy is not some timid and shy girl but a strong and courageous warrior, and when I look at you, you are not a strong and courageous warrior at all…Katara."

He knows, he remembers who I am. I have to get out of here, but where do I go? What do I do? Where do I go from here? The only answer to all of these questions is to figh and see who is the last one standing.


	2. Chapter 2: The Fight Against Myself

Hello everyone and welcome back to my story, I just want to say thank you for taking the time out of your day to read my story, I appreciate it so much and hope you guys enjoy this chapter of This is Where it Begins and would love for you guys to leave me any comments telling me what you think.

He knows, he remembers who I am. I have to get out of here, but where do I go? What do I do? Where do I go from here? The only answer to all of these questions is to fight and see who is the last one standing.

Zuko circles around me and each step he makes is making me want to fight him even more. Everything about him pisses me off, his great hair, his beautiful smile and most of all his high and mighty attitude. When he speaks to me the only thing I want to do is to punch his daylights out, but I have to wait until he makes the first move and than I will be ready to take him on. My hands reached into my jacket and feel my other half with me, my extension of my arm, my lethal water bending sword.

Zuko comes up behind and I feel his breathe on my neck. "How long has it been Katara since my family burned down your village? Is it six years? Is it seven years?" He knows how long it has been since his family burned down my village, he knows how much I hate him, he knows all the emotions he is stirring up are working. I must do something, I cannot stand here and listen to him berate my tribe, while he and his almighty family are not able to feel the guilt that my family and my tribe have gone through. "How are you feeling Katara? Do you need to sit down and want me to make you feel any better?"

After hearing what he just said. My lips started to form a full smirk. "You know Zuko, I never thought you would be the type of guy to have a humorous side. You really think after all the shit you put me through that I would actually let you make me feel better. Don't try and make me laugh." I feel the rage inside of me and I have no idea if I can control it anymore. Zuko knows that I will do anything to avenge my tribe and my family and he is right. He will not escape the nightmare that I will lay upon on him and once his nightmare begins, my nightmare will finally end.

"katara, let me just say to you, emotions are a weakness. These emotions that you feel right now are going to be the reason for your demise. What do you think is going to happen to you when you lose all of your emotions? Nothing, there will be nothing for you to hang onto and that will be the reason for your demise like your family and your tribe believed in this little emotion called hope and when our battle is done then your hope will be at the bottom of hell where the rest of your family and tribe are at."

With him behind me I knew it was time for me to strike. I swiftly turned around away from his grasp and knew that the time has finally come. I gazed into his dark eyes and took the sword out of my jacket ready to attack. "Just because you say something does not make it true, you may think you can beat me, but just remember who you are and what you have done to my people and your's as well, and maybe you will see the truth and horrifying acts that your family has done."

I gazed into his eyes and once more and knew that the battle was about to begin. The problem is I won't be able to attack with any water because there is no water for miles and my stamina at the moment is at its worst. I will have to battle with all of my head and with close combat and if I don't then everything will be screwed in the end. Zuko takes three steps forward and his hands light on fire, he jumping into the air and with so much flight starts to throw so many fire balls that I could't even count. Moving back and forth and side to side I was somehow able to avoid all of them. I looked up at Zuko and seen that he left big opening, he won't be able to defend himself, I rushed forward and all of sudden he was gone.

"Where did he go?" I whispered. I looked up and down and all around and Zuko could not be found. "Come out Zuko, don't be coward, be a man and face me like a warrior." I yelled at the top of my lungs.

"Darling, are you looking for me?" Zuko announced to me and what it seemed to be the world.

I looked up and seen Zuko standing on top of the roof, what a coward, he now wants to fight on the roof, well if that is what he wants, then being on the top of the palace will be my way of showing who the best really is. "Zuko stop with all the games, lets end this!" I flung myself on top of the palace and took my stance and was ready more than ever. I flung myself towards Zuko with my sword swinging back and forth, but nothing was getting towards Zuko. My stamina was starting to run out and there was no lakes near by to help me towards my goal. Dammit, what do I do? Everything I try is not working out.

"You know Katara, you could just give up." Zuko suggested to me. Does he think I am stupid? Giving up is not in my nature and it will never be. I will never give up because this fight is for my family, for my tribe and most of all for myself.

"I will never give up and I will never give in. Do you think I am stupid? You want a fight Zuko? You got one, no bending and no swords just straight up fighting with fists, what do you say Zuko?" I said with confidence. "Oh, are you scared you might get beat by water bender?"

"To answer your question, yes, yes I think you are very stupid to want to go up against someone like me. You want to fight with just fists? That is fine with me, but don't come crying to me begging for me to spare your life."

I threw my sword to the ground and put my long brown hair into a secure pony tail. I looked up into the dark sky and thought of my brother and suki, my dead family and my tribe. I will not give up and I will not give in. Zuko and I started each other down and I felt the animosity running through my veins. We both ran towards each other with the rain finally coming down and getting in the way of my vision. I threw my fists as hard as I can towards him and all he did was deflect with his own. His kicks and my kicks were in sync, everything was in sync. I backed away from Zuko to the edge of the roof, I needed a new strategy to defeat him, fighting and deflecting each other's attacks is not going to work. What do I do? I could attack from the side or from behind, but where would that get me? Nowhere, Zuko is fast, he would know right away what I was planning. Zuko was running towards me so fast that I am pretty sure he was faster than a cheetah. Think, Katara, think, what would Zuko not expect?

"Zuko, what's wrong? Is the rain starting to slow you down?" I yelled at him. "Us water benders don't have to worry about the cold."

"Are you trying to piss me off Katara? Because at this point I wouldn't recommend it. You are on thin ice and one thing I hate more than losing is someone mocking me." He yelled so loud.

"Why should I care? You are the one who has ruined everything and I am going to be the one who ruins everything for you." I demanded.

Zuko's mouth was twitching and his eyes were definitely darker than before, he looked like he was going to explode. "Zuko, you and your family destroyed my tribe and destroyed my brother and I's family. You don't understand the loss of losing someone you love and for that I can never forgive you for destroying my family. You don't know what its like to feel the pain and the suffering of losing someone close to you and for that you don't understand human emotion and love between individuals." I felt the tears coming out of my eyes and knew that what I was saying was from the heart and not from the head.

"You think you are the only one who has lost someone you cared about. You think you and your brother are the only ones in this world who lost family members? Well guess what Katara? I know those feelings of pain and suffering and because of those emotions they made me weak, they made me turn into a weakling who was not able to defeat their very own father. Guess what? I lost my mother because of my very own father, I lost the only person who believed in me, so don't say that I don't understand." Zuko yelled at the top of his lungs.

I looked up and couldn't believe it, was Zuko crying? Or was it the rain that was falling down disguising the truth? Behind every person there is a backstory that no one wants anybody to find out and when it comes to Zuko, he doesn't want anyone to find out about his mother. We actually have something in common and that is we both have lost people we have cared about. If he only knew that emotions and love were not a weakness but what are actually can make us stronger.

Zuko came flying towards me running and started punching me from the stomach to the face, so much pain and so much suffering was behind each punch that I cannot believe that one person is able to deal with it for so many years. Every punch had a different force and different emotion behind it and each emotion was the same as mine. I couldn't fight back, all I could do was stand there and take everything in. We both fell to the roof's solid rocky bottom, blood coming out of places that you would never thought blood could come out of. My sword sitting across the room probably full of sweat and tears. I glanced up at Zuko and seen he was just as shaken as I was. So many thoughts running through my head, was he not the one who did the attack on the water tribe? Was it actually his father and not Zuko? What do I do? What do I say?

I tried to stand up, but there was to much pain from my throbbing head to my scrapped up feet and looking at Zuko he looked about the same. Zuko was crawling towards me, what was he doing? I didn't understand what his intention was, as he got closer something was happening to me, it might have to do with the rain, maybe I am getting a cold. As he got closer my heart started to thump more and more. I looked at Zuko and when we both made eye contact we both fell to the ground and collapsed.

The next day I woke up and I was in a bedroom by myself, not in my regular clothes and wondering what the hell was going on? My sword was sitting on the brown round table across the room and there was at least five or six paintings of Zuko. What happened to me? The last thing I remembered was fighting Zuko and then I passed out on the roof.

"Well look who decided to wake up." A voice said across the room.

I turned my head to where the voice was coming from, and couldn't believe who I saw. "What the hell are you doing here? Where am I? What have you done to me?" I exclaimed.

"First off I am here to look after you, second of all you are in my pesonal bedroom and thirdly I have done nothing, my maids took care of you, by helping you with your clothes." Zuko explained to me.

I had to get out of here, who knew what he was going to do to me. My sword is across the room and I have no way to sneak past him and grab it. "What do you think you are doing Zuko? Drop the nice act and let me the hell out of here." I ranted to him.

He give me one of those smirks that pisses me off, "well here is the thing, you cannot leave." I am almost laughed right on the spot, is he being serious? There is no way I am staying in this hell that they call a palace.

"Excuse me, you are keeping me here? There is no way in hell I am staying here, you must have hit your head when we fought because you are being delusional. I am not staying here."

"Well if you want to protect the rest of the water tribe and your brother, then you will." Zuko said without hesitation. "If you promise to stay here, I won't send my troops toward your land and promise to let go all of the water tribe prisoners."

He cannot be serious, the guy who was crying about his mom is now keeping me prisoner, but this maybe a blessing in disquise, if I promise to stay here I will be protecting my people but will have more a chance to kill Zuko with my bare hands.

"You promise that you will not protect my land and will let all prisoners go?" I asked.

"I promise, I won't hurt your people, your land, and let the prisoners go." Zuko said to me.

"You have a deal then." I said to him, but if he only knew the truth of what is really going to go down.

Hello everyone, thank you for reading, please tell me what you guys thought and will see you guys soon with a new chapter.


End file.
